Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 18, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 7 52 52 Osprey 3 9 9 Bald Eagle 0 20 20 Northern Harrier 1 75 75 Sharp-shinned Hawk 54 1178 1178 Cooper's Hawk 0 6 6 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 1 26709 26709 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 1 94 94 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 10 303 303 Merlin 0 12 12 Peregrine Falcon 0 8 8 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 77 28466 28466 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6.5 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Mark Hainen, Michelle Peregord, Nick Hinnant Visitors: Thank you to the folks who joined us today and yesterday for the Lake Erie Metropark Hawk Fest! If you missed us this year, we hope to see you next year around this time. For first-time visitors: Welcome! Our count site has limited seating options and little shade so we recommend bringing adequate water, seating, sun protection, and binoculars to allow you to better see the birds. Our hawk watch volunteers and counter will be at the boat launch from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM from September 1 - November 30. We are located by the boat launch in Lake Erie Metropark in a fenced off area at the Hawk Watch site. This does not mean that we do not welcome interaction with any and all visitors. We enjoy talking about what we do and sharing our knowledge with beginners and experts alike. Please feel free to come up and talk to us. We usually have our backs turned to the parking lot as we scan the skies in front of us. This should not be interpreted as a sign of reluctance to engage: this is how we do our job. We have friendly people that do not bite and the welcome mat is always out. Weather: Your friendly neighborhood biologist Jessie here again! It was another hazy, humid start to the count again this morning. Rain was visible moving north around 11:00 AM and we had hope that the moving storm systems might push some birds our way, but our optimism dwindled as the day went on. The skies cleared and winds picked up and shifted in the afternoon which brought a reprieve to the stifling heat, but no significant additional birds. Raptor Observations: We always hope that the birds give us a good show during the Lake Erie Metropark Hawk Fest, but unfortunately we were graced with another rather slow day. Two adult bald eagles gave our photographers something to get excited about during the late hours of the count, but were not counted as they were resident birds. The highlight bird of the day was a juvenile broad-winged hawk that nearly snuck passed us around 2:00 PM as it raced to catch up to its cohort that had passed the Thursday prior. Sharp-shinned hawks were once again the reigning champions but at a little over 50 birds for the day their win will forever have an asterisk beside it. Non-raptor Observations: A lovely arrangement of wayward balloons floated passed our binoculars but we were too slow with our scopes to get an accurate count. A small, battered Viceroy (similar in markings to the Monarch Butterfly) took a rest on our counter Kevin for a few moments before trying its luck once again against winds. A squadron of two dozen American white pelicans showed us some good looks at their distinctive white and black wings as their got lift on the minimal thermals we had today. Another 3,000 blue jays moved passed us this morning as well. Predictions: Tomorrow morning looks potentially stormy which may keep us off the count site for the first few hours. Winds out of the northwest later in the day may bring more birds than we’ve seen the last two days. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jessie Fletcher (jessica_fletcher@fws.gov) Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org More site information at hawkcount.org: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=285 Count data submitted via Dunkadoo - Project info at: https://dunkadoo.org/explore/detroit-river-international-wildlife-refuge/detroit-river-hawk-watch-fall-2022